Lust brings sin, and sin brings death III

Greetings to you, dear friends! Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!Yesterday we talked about lust that brings suffering into people’s lives and gives birth to sin and sin then gives birth to death.We discovered that lust is a strong desire or passion for a forbidden or illegal thing. Also lust is when a man desires something contrary to God’s will and thus rejects God’s authority over his or her life. Besides, we saw that lust is excessive appetite for something and it has brought terrible pain and suffering to society in a form of alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, stealing, treachery, murder and so on. Lust means to seek pleasure for a moment; it robs a person of his future and buries his or her destiny in God.  

«But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deception while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children» (2 Peter, 2:12-14).

 This passage of Scripture explains to us why sufferings and tragedies will not cease on this planet, despite the fact that God loves us and wishes for us peace and wholeness.Let’s see what else we can say about lust.

• Lust is a companion of selfishness and self-centeredness. Lust is a desire to use everything and everyone for your own good. Most people in this world live for themselves seeking their own good. That is why tragedies are practically inevitable. Lust leads to collapse in life. God has given us the commandment to love each other as a solution for this problem.

 

«Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, „You shall not commit adultery,” „You shall not murder”, „You shall not steal”, „You shall not bear false witness,” „You shall not covet”, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, „You shall love your neighbour as yourself”» (Romans, 13:8-9).

 Love destroys the power of lust; where there is love, wounds are healed and prosperity comes. Love is the nature of God and when we become partakers of His essence we escape from corruption that rules in this world. 

«..as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust» (2 Peter, 1: 3-4)

 This passage of Scripture helps us to see the following things:

1. Corruption in this world is the result of lust and as long as lust will rule in this world there will also be corruption (misery, curse, tears, and tragedies).
2. God has shows us how to escape the power of lust and has given us everything pertaining life and godliness, allowing us to live in wholeness.
3. We enter His provision through faith in His great and precious promises that allow us to know God.
4. Because of the knowledge of God and faith in His promises we become partakers of the divine nature.
5. Having become partakers of God’s nature, we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
6. If we are led by love which is God’s nature then we do not just enjoy eternal life, but also become givers of life.

God knows that until the issue of sin is solved, misery in this world will abound. That is why God sent Jesus Christ to the earth so that through His sacrifice we would be delivered from the power of the corruption of this world. Jesus the Son of God submitted to Father’s will and gave Himself to bring redemption to the whole humanity. 

«..who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father» (Galatians, 1: 4).

 Till tomorrow!I wish you abundant God’s blessings!Pastor Rufus Ajiboye